New $600 million Com Bank Office Building at Darling Harbour!

[AltiusAltiusAltius]

From today's SMH:

Resurgence in western CBD
Carolyn Cummins Commercial Property Editor
June 2, 2007

CHINATOWN and the nearby Darling Harbour are due for another resurgence amid plans for a new office tower and a mixed use project.

One of the projects is said to include the Darling Walk area, the site of the former Sega World entertainment area.

Development applications have been lodged with the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority that may include a $500 million office tower.

In the past there have been plans laid out that include strata offices, mixed use retail, a hotel and an eatery area similar to the nearby Cockle Bay wharf area.

There have been suggestions that the SHFA could be looking at redeveloping the Sydney Entertainment Centre. The SHFA has declined to comment on these long-running rumours.

Agents say they have been hoping the NSW Government would look at implementing more infrastructure plans in the area, such as an extension of a rail link.

The area to the south of the Town Hall has been transformed in five years. This has included the opening of the World Square complex, which is the new home to Ernst & Young, the Meriton group's apartment tower and the Rydges hotel.

The King Street Wharf has done the same for the western fringe. Recent rental deals in the western corridor, including retail and office, also suggest the area has turned the corner.

At the moment, 93,371 people live in the centre of the city and this is forecast to grow to more than 102,000 by June 2010.

CB Richard Ellis director Gavin Lloyd said forward-looking developers were tapping into the changing nature of the western corridor.

"They are identifying key hot spots and are focusing on the retail sector to provide a much needed amenity to the growing office and residential population," Mr Lloyd said.

One of the latest developments is the Mandarin Club, which is drawing up plans for new premises after agreeing to buy a parcel of strata lots in the high profile 1 Dixon Shopping Centre.

The club has taken an option over 10 strata lots, for a price of about $16 million.

CB Richard Ellis sales agent Keith Coassin said the purchase would provide the club with a new berth at the gateway to Chinatown, near the Dixon Street Mall and diagonally opposite the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

It is the latest win for the centre's developer, Accord Pacific Holdings, the Australian property investment and development arm of Singapore's Lian Huat Group.

CB Richard Ellis has been coordinating the sales of the 81 strata shops in the project. Including the Mandarin Club deal, 70 of the lots have now been sold for a combined total of more than $50 million.

The centre's car park was also recently traded for $9.2 million to a private syndicate.

Mr Coassin said the Mandarin Club would provide a high profile anchor for the centre, which is home to a spread of restaurants, fashion retailers and a range of service providers, such as hair salons and beauticians.

"The club was keen to buy rather than lease and there is a real lack of supply in Chinatown, particularly for stock of this nature," Mr Coassin said.

The new premises will have a total lettable area of some 2500 square metres.

The Mandarin Club intends to relocate from its long-term berth in Pitt Street to the 1 Dixon Shopping Centre after development plans are approved for the new facility.

The centre, with 81 strata shops, has been marketed by Mr Lloyd, who said all 46 shops of stage one had sold for prices of up to $2.23 million.

Stage two is now under way.

Jackson Wong, chief executive of the Mandarin Club said his group was keen to remain a focal point in Chinatown. The original club opened 40 years ago.

The Raben footwear building on the corner of Pitt and Goulburn streets recently sold for $9.2 million.

[CULWULLA]

yes, great stuff. im pretty sure the Coomonwealth bank are planning a 60,000sqm campus style bldg at sega world.It will rise to height of 60m tunnel stack and step down to park. should rejuvinate the area.

[AltiusAltiusAltius]

Originally Posted by CULWULLA

yes, great stuff. im pretty sure the Coomonwealth bank are planning a 60,000sqm campus style bldg at sega world.It will rise to height of 60m tunnel stack and step down to park. should rejuvinate the area.

Campus style bldg sounds allright for Darling Walk site but I would rather see CBA anchoring John Boyd tower....

There are too many low rise office buildings built these days (e.g. ANZ in Melb Docklands, Optus in N. Ryde, CBA at Olympic Park)

[Coneslammer]

Originally Posted by AltiusAltiusAltius

From today's SMH:
At the moment, 93,371 people live in the centre of the city and this is forecast to grow to more than 102,000 by June 2010.

Holy shit. Is this just in the CBD, i.e postcode 2000 that they're talking about?

if so, that's reasonably impressive.

[LanceDriver]

^ i don't know about that. according to the official 2001 community profile census stats on http://www.id.com.au/profile/default...8&gid=290&pg=1 for the suburb of sydney there were 14,618 people in 2001 up from 5,845 in 1996 so i doubt that there are 93,371 now.

the city of sydney had a population of 137,758 in 2001 so who knows where they got that random figure from and what localities they classed as being part of central sydney.

anyway, you'll never get a tower on the sega site, there would be too much overshadowing of darling harbour and the chinese gardens, especially in winter. it just wouldn't get through.

[Fabian]

Excellent, the area is a bit depressed at the moment, and is in need of a big makeover. Never busy compared to other parts of Darling Harbour.

It will make a great address for any firm as they will be smack bang in the middle of Darling Harbour, rather than being on the fringes.

[christarrant]

The possible redevelopment of the 25 year old Syd Ent Cent is also an exciting prospect. It'd be great if SHFA decided to level it and build a new entertainment /convention/exhibition centre in that area and stick a 200m tower on top of it !
Remember this is SHFA land so NO height limits to stick to !

I was excited to read the "$500m tower" headline as well. Unfortnately Cul says it's gonna be only 60-70m high at best......grrrrrrr......better than nothing though.

[CULWULLA]

you can see the 40m blue cone of SEGA world at left. This is where new bldg will go. great posi

image hosted on flickr

[LanceDriver]

you can also see why it won't/can't be a tall.

[CULWULLA]

yes, not only shadows onTumberlong park but also Chinese Gardens. Should achieve 12storeys/50m maybe?

[Ipggi]

I don't know how a campus bank office will add any life to the area outside 9-5 M-F though? Darling Harbour's busiest time is during the weekends and at night.

[CULWULLA]

apparently the first 2 floors will be retail/entertainment ect.

[christarrant]

Originally Posted by CULWULLA

you can see the 40m blue cone of SEGA world at left. This is where new bldg will go. great posi

image hosted on flickr

You can also see the Syd Ent Cent in the foreground of the Sega blue cone.
In a perfect world, that location would be the place for a couple of tall towers to be built above/beside a redeveloped entertainment/ convention/ exhibition space.
Also in the foreground is the 500 foot Peak apartment tower which was built way above CSPC height limits because it was developed on SHFA land !!!
There is a fair bit of space down there. With a bit of vision it could be a real earner for SHFA !!!

[Avatar]

SHFA should just go beserk, this area could be so wonderful with the right mix of highrise. As much as I like having the entertainment centre so close to the city, it would be great to see some highrise built in its place. I cant see a reason why a new entertainment centre couldn't incorporate some highrise anyway.

I wish they would so something with that carpark diagonally across from the Peak.

[shaggers_jr]

The Entertainment Centre is a shit venue. It has no atmosphere and the acoustics are horrid. (The one at Homebush is much better as a theatre.) It also kills that area dead and cuts off Ultimo from the city. Can't wait til it tastes the wrecker's ball.

[papervagina]

Something nice and tall on the entertainment centre site would have the added benefit of making even more of a mockery of the council's pointless height limits for the southern CBD.

Avatar, UTS do/did own the carpark you speak of and I think there was some sort of proposal for it a while back. I've always hated the UTS Markets Campus... maybe they could replace that with something tall too.

[Randwicked]

Knock down the Ent Cent and its cruddy multideck carpark. On their site build a giant integrated complex with exhibition space, a theatre or two, a new arena to replace the Ent Cent, and two or three towers sprouting from the roof (one World Square height, one Peak height). On the corner of Hay and Harbour Sts, plaster the building with neon and billboards. That can be our new Times Square-style area. Integrate the monorail into the facade of the new building. Reconstruct the footbridge to Harris St so it is a more obvious thoroughfare. Link this new complex over the top of the Pier St bridge so it seamlessly integrates with the current Exhibition Centre.

[CULWULLA]

just think what Peaks residents would say about a highrise on ent cent site.

[LanceDriver]

Originally Posted by Avatar

SHFA should just go beserk, this area could be so wonderful with the right mix of highrise. As much as I like having the entertainment centre so close to the city, it would be great to see some highrise built in its place. I cant see a reason why a new entertainment centre couldn't incorporate some highrise anyway.

I wish they would so something with that carpark diagonally across from the Peak.

the one thing that would stop talls from being built on the entertainment centre site is overshadowing of darling harbour. considering that it is just off darling harbour and at the south end there should be no overshadowing, especially in winter, so i can't see what the problem would be. the nimbys will find a problem though. and the carpark could be redevloped in the same way, so you could get a few talls.

that carpark diagonally across from the peak/market city and opposite uts library has been talked about recently in another thread. i think cul said that it has a 50m limit which is rediculous. it could be even taller than peak and not overshadow anything important i'm sure. maybe that's why it hasn't been developed, they are waiting for a break in the ceiling. fsr would have to change too for it to be as tall as peak.

[Fabian]

Originally Posted by shaggers_jr

The Entertainment Centre is a shit venue. It has no atmosphere and the acoustics are horrid. (The one at Homebush is much better as a theatre.) It also kills that area dead and cuts off Ultimo from the city. Can't wait til it tastes the wrecker's ball.

From a performers point of view, they would rather perform at the Entertainment Centre because it's more initimate and it's location - right in the CBD with excellent transport.

It's very hard convincing major acts to perform at the larger ACER arena, though it has improved in recent years.

Have they refurbished the entertainment centre at all since 1983?

I would like the entertainment centre to stay, and if they want to build a scraper above - go ahead. Everyone wins